337,000 pensioners have done proof of life in a month: how to get yours

More than 337,000 pensioners have obtained a proof of life certificate in the month since the scheme opened on 20 August 2026, according to figures reported on Saturday.

The headline number matters less than where people did it. Just over half never left the house.

Where the 337,000 did it

The app is doing the heavy lifting. For a pensioner in a village two hours from the nearest NADRA centre, that is the difference between a day lost and five minutes on a phone.

Who is covered right now

Phase I applies to pensioners administered by the Controller General of Accounts and the Military Accountant General. That is federal civil pensioners and military pensioners. If your pension is paid by a provincial accountant general, a state-owned company or EOBI, you are not in this phase.

The scheme was set up on the prime minister's directions, run with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defence, the CGA and the MAG.

The six ways to complete it

1. Pak ID mobile app. The route 52 percent used. Face verification on your own phone.
2. NADRA Registration Centres. More than 988 of them.
3. e-Sahulat franchises. Over 5,000 outlets, which is the widest physical network of the lot.
4. Union council counters. Around 500 have the service.
5. Mobile registration vans. For areas without a fixed centre.
6. Biker and ManPack services. NADRA staff who come to you, meant for pensioners who cannot travel.

Why this replaced the old system

The old method was a pensioner turning up in person at a bank branch every year to be seen alive. That is a hard trip for someone in their eighties, and it is the single most common reason a pension stops. Biometric and face verification moves the check to a phone or a van and keeps the payment running.

If you are working out what a pension is worth in hand, or what a gratuity should come to, our gratuity calculator and EOBI pension calculator do the arithmetic. For NADRA card fees and renewal costs, the NADRA fee calculator has the current schedule.

What to do this week

If you draw a federal civil or military pension, do it now rather than waiting for a deadline announcement. The app route needs a working CNIC, a phone with a front camera and a connection. If the face scan fails, which it does for older users with cataracts or worn fingerprints, an e-Sahulat franchise or a NADRA centre will do it manually.

If you are handling this for a parent, take their CNIC and check it has not expired first. An expired CNIC is the other reason these verifications fail.